In April 2011, the Palestinian Authority Registry published a Government Resolution granting all Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Israel for security and terror-related offenses a monthly salary from the PA (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2011). This new resolution, called PA Government Resolution of 2010, numbers 21 and 23, formalized what has long been a PA practice.

The PA defined which Palestinians would be considered "prisoners": "Anyone imprisoned in the occupation's [Israel's] prisons as a result of his participation in the struggle against the occupation" (Ch. 1 of Law of Prisoners, 2004/19, www.alasra.ps, accessed May 9, 2011)

According to the PA definition, more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners (as of December 2012) serving time for terror-related offenses are recipients of PA salaries. This means that Palestinians convicted of crimes such as theft do not receive a salary, but Hamas and Fatah terrorist murderers do.

These monthly payments to prisoners are paid from the PA’s general budget and income taxes are paid, as is the case with all other PA salaries (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2011). According to the language of the PA regulation as well as PA economic reports on government salaries, the monthly salaries to prisoners range from 1,400 shekels to 12,000 shekels. The PA economic report listed the prisoners’ salaries as part of the PA general salary budget, which includes civil servants, military personnel and others. (Life and the Market, supplement to Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2011). It was not listed as a social service payment.

The PA’s general budget and salary budget is funded by numerous donor countries. Since 2011, PMW has been documenting that international donors' aid money given for salaries and to the PA general budget pays the salaries of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. This is in violation of the letter or spirit of the laws of the funding countries.

Responding to queries from donor countries following PMW reports, the PA told the donor countries that they changed the wording of the law from “salaries” – “ratib”- to “assistance” – “i’ana.” British Minister of State stated in a letter that “we have discussed these issues with the PA at the highest levels” and “the PA has now changed the wording in the Cabinet Decision to unambiguously refer to the payment as assistance – i’ana.’” (Letter from Minister of State Alan Duncan to MP Mike Freer, see report here) However, the PA immediately contradicted what Duncan had claimed, calling it a rumor:

This was likewise corroborated by Prisoners' Club Chairman Qadura Fares, when he announced that the PA had finalized a final version of the law “which considers payments made to prisoners 'salaries,' (Arabic: ratib) to which no other term applies.” [Al-Quds Internet edition, Dec. 27, 2012]

In August 2014, the PA implemented another ruse to evade pressure from international ‎donors. The PA closed the PA Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs and announced the ‎establishment of a new PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, which they claimed ‎would pay the salaries. ‎

However, the PLO Commission was new only in name. The PLO body would have the ‎same responsibilities and pay the exact same amounts of salaries to prisoners; the ‎former PA Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Karake, became the Director of the new ‎PLO Commission and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas retained overall supervision of ‎the PLO Commission. [PNN Palestine News Network (independent Palestinian news agency), Aug. 29, 2014] [Ayjal radio (independent Palestinian station), Aug. 30, 2014] [Official PA TV, May 9, 2015]

Nevertheless, many international donors accepted PA assurances that the PA was no ‎longer paying the salaries to terrorist prisoners. For instance, the Dutch government ‎made this statement in April 2015: ‎

‎“The responsibility for payments to prisoners was transferred to the PLO and will ‎no longer be charged to the budget of the PA, and these [payments to prisoners] ‎are not funded by PA tax revenues or donor funds. The PLO pays such costs ‎from their own income, where the Cabinet has no access.” [Question and ‎Answer session, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 22, 2015] ‎

Ample evidence contradicts the PA assurances to the Dutch and other donors. These ‎findings are based entirely on information supplied by the PA: ‎

‎- In January 2015, the PA Ministry of Finance announced that the PA budget includes ‎transfer of salaries to prisoners in Israeli jails who were from Gaza. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, ‎Jan. 6, 2015] This openly contradicts the PA claim that the PA no longer pays salaries ‎to prisoners.‎

‎- When Israel withheld PA tax income in the first months of 2015, the PA announced ‎that prisoners receiving up to 2,000 shekels in salary a month would continue to ‎receive their full salary and those receiving more than 2,000 shekels would only ‎receive 60% of their salary -- the same reduction that was imposed on civil servants. ‎‎[Wattan News Agency, March 5, 2015] Were the PLO paying salaries from Arab donor ‎money and not the PA, Israel's holding up PA money would have no impact on terrorist ‎prisoners’ salaries. Clearly, it is still PA money paying terrorist prisoners’ salaries.‎

To view all PMW reports on PA salaries to terrorist prisoners, click here.

The following section documents all developments related to salaries for ‎Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Israel:‎

Headline: “Karake: The [PA] president has decided to return the salaries of the released prisoners in the West Bank”
“Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released [Prisoners’] Affairs Issa Karake this evening, Monday [Aug. 14, 2017], emphasized that [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to return the salaries (rawatib) of the prisoners and released [prisoners] in the West Bank and of the prisoners in the Israeli prisons.
The released [prisoners] whose salaries were stopped and who waged a sit-in strike in the center of Ramallah in the West Bank announced an agreement today that guarantees the return of their salaries by the PA, after they were stopped for three consecutive months. The released [prisoners] said at a press conference held opposite the protest camp in the center of the city that ‘It was agreed to return the salaries of all of the released [prisoners] in the West Bank without exception, and to return the salaries of the prisoners in the prisons as a goodwill initiative.’
They emphasized that the PA gave them positive promises regarding dealing with the salaries of the released [prisoners] in the West Bank and others later on… It should be noted that the [PA] unity government stopped paying the salaries of 277 released prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza three months ago.”

Text posted on the Facebook page of the Fatah Movement’s Bethlehem Branch

Posted text: “A statement from the PLO Executive Committee – Ramallah, Aug. 12, 2017
The PLO Executive Committee, led by [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas, met at the [PA’s] presidential headquarters and discussed the political developments…
The [PLO] Executive Committee condemned the legislators of the American Congress and their positions towards the Palestinian people… and sees the American Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ approval of stopping American aid to the PA – if it does not stop the aid to the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners – as an unacceptable act that will negatively affect everything that is connected to the Palestinians’ rights... [The Executive Committee] emphasized the rejection of this [American] extortion and the rejection of using the tool of financial aid to extract political concessions... The [PLO] Executive Committee sent a blessing of appreciation and pride to the freedom prisoners of war for their legendary stance, and emphasized that their release is at the top of its agenda.”Click to view bulletin

Headline: “Majdalani: We will not submit to any demands to stop supporting the Martyrs’ families and prisoners”
“PLO Executive Committee member [and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF)] Ahmed Majdalani said that the American Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ approval of the law to stop the American aid to the PA is a step that the [Palestinian] leadership expected. He noted that [the leadership] has recently received great threats of stopping the financial aid and extortion over its political positions...
It should be noted that the American Senate committee on Thursday [Aug. 3, 2017] approved a bill, according to which financial aid of $300 million that the US provides to the PA each year will be stopped, unless it [the PA] stops paying sums of money ‘as a reward for crimes of violence,’ as the legislators described it. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations voted by a majority of 17 in favor as opposed to four against on the bill that is known as the Taylor Force Act. This was after a Palestinian (i.e., terrorist Bashar Masalha) killed 29-year-old American [Taylor Force] by stabbing, when the latter visited Israel last year… The occupation police killed the attacker who stabbed Force, but his family (i.e., the killer’s) receives a monthly sum.”

Headline: “Sources to Wattan: The [PA] president has issued instructions for resolving the issue of the prisoners and released prisoners whose salaries were stopped”
“Knowledgeable sources told [the independent Palestinian news agency] Wattan that [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas has issued instructions to resolve the issue of the 277 prisoners and released prisoners whose salaries (rawatib) have been stopped for this the third consecutive month. The sources said that a delegation representing the prisoners and released prisoners whose salaries were stopped held long meetings today [Aug. 2, 2017] with the security authorities in Ramallah in order to reach a resolution of their issue…
Earlier this week Fatah Movement Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub met with the released prisoners at the [protest] tent and promised them to resolve the issue. Fatah Revolutionary Council Secretary Majed Al-Fatiani also met with the released prisoners and their families at the protest tent and promised them to invest efforts into ending their suffering.”

Headline: “Karake: The issue of the prisoners is a black box filled with the occupation’s crimes”

“Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake said that the Palestinian leadership, led by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, continues to protect the legal right of our prisoners to freedom, release, and the protection of their dignity and human rights, and that the prisoners’ issue is a basic principle regarding which it is not possible to negotiate or to succumb to the Israeli conditions and extortion …
He said that the issue of the prisoners is a black box full of the occupation state’s crimes and atrocities, and we will open this box and prosecute the occupiers who are attempting to steal from the Palestinians their humanity and the legality of their resistance to the occupiers and settlers.”

Video on the YouTube channel of the independent Palestinian news agency Wattan, on the renewal of salaries to Hamas prisoners whose salaries were stopped, hosting Chairman of the PA-funded Palestinian Prisoners' Club Qadura Fares and spokesman for the prisoners whose salaries were stopped Mansour Shamasneh.

Spokesman for the prisoners whose salaries were stopped Mansour Shamasneh: "The salaries of the released [Hamas] prisoners in the West Bank have been renewed - all of them, without exception. Secondly, the salaries of the [Hamas] prisoners in the occupation's prisons that were stopped have been renewed - all of them, without exception."Chairman of the PA-funded Palestinian Prisoners' Club Qadura Fares: "The Martyrs (Shahids), prisoners, and wounded, together with their families, need to live in dignity and pride, especially at a time when this fighting group is a target for attacks by the occupation and its allies."

“Institutions dealing with prisoners affairs and human rights, the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club, the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association, and the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, published their monthly report yesterday [July 11, 2017]…
The number of Palestinian prisoners in the occupation’s prisons has reached approximately 6,300 prisoners, 57 of them female prisoners, 10 of whom are female minors, 300 children, and 486 administrative detainees, along with 11 PA Parliament (Legislative Council) members.”

Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights – Founded in Gaza in 1999, its stated goals are the promotion and protection of human rights in Palestine, and especially in the Gaza Strip. NGO Monitor has documented that the Al-Mezan Center is active in many campaigns against Israel, delegitimizes Israel’s right to exist, and is a signatory to the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS which calls for an end to Israel’s “occupation,” and advocates Palestinians’ right of return to all of Israel.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association – A Palestinian civil organization based in Jerusalem and established in 1992 whose stated goals are the support of Palestinian “political prisoners” held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons. NGO Monitor has documented that Addameer is active in many campaigns against Israel, and demonizes Israel.

Source:
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), July 5, 2017

"These are the results of the latest poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip between 29 June and 1 July 2017. This poll has been conducted in cooperation with the Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung in Ramallah...
Total size of the sample is 1200 adults interviewed face to face in 120 randomly selected locations. Margin of error is 3%... [PMW note: The following are excerpts from the poll. Click the above link to read the entire poll]

(3) PA payments to Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails:
91% are opposed to the suspension of PA payments to Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails; only 7% support such measure. 46% believe that the PA will not stop making those payments to Palestinian security prisoners while 44% believe it will stop making them.

(6) Presidential and parliamentary elections:
62% of the public want president Abbas to resign while 31% want him to remain in office. Three months ago, 64% said they want Abbas to resign. Demand for Abbas’ resignation stands at 55% in the West Bank and 75% in the Gaza Strip. Three months ago demand for Abbas resignation stood at 61% in the West Bank and 70% in the Gaza Strip.

(8) The peace process:
In the absence of peace negotiations, 74% support joining more international organizations, 54% support non- violent popular resistance, 39% support a return to an armed intifada, and 44% support the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority. Three months ago, support for a return to an armed intifada stood at 51%."
Click "full article" for more

Headline: "The [PA] government decides to make 6,145 employees take an early pension in the southern districts"
"The [PA] national unity government, in its weekly meeting today (Tuesday) [July 4, 2017], decided to make 6,145 employees in the southern districts (the Gaza Strip) [parentheses in source] take an early pension. Official [PA] Government Spokesperson Yusuf Al-Mahmoud explained that the government emphasized that this step, the steps that preceded it, and every other step likely to be taken in this framework are temporary steps, [whose cancellation] depends on Hamas abandoning the rift [with Fatah]… The government emphasized that the Hamas Movement collects hundreds of millions of [Israeli] shekels a month and does not return them to the public coffers, while the [PA] government is allocating more than 450 million shekels a month for the southern districts."

Headline: “Released prisoners whose salary payments were stopped: The [PA] minister of finance again did not bother to meet [with us]"
"With empty hands – thus the released prisoners whose salary (rawatib) payments were stopped left the [PA] Ministry of Finance building in Ramallah, after [PA] Minister of Finance [and Minister of Planning Dr. Shukri Bishara] refused to meet with them for the second time in 24 hours, according to them. Released prisoner Ihsan Al-Safadi said: 'Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara was in the ministry building, but they told us he was busy and that there was no possibility of meeting him.' He noted that this was the second refusal.
He added: 'The ministry of finance accountant and the director of the salary branch came out to sit with us, and they informed us that our problem is political.'
The released prisoners whose salary payments were stopped are continuing a sit-in strike [that has continued] for 16 consecutive days in the center of Ramallah, in protest of the decision to stop their salary payments. They are demanding that the leadership give them their right, which is anchored in Palestinian law...
According to released prisoners, the [PA] government stopped paying the salaries of 277 prisoners and released prisoners from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – one of the most prominent among them being Nael Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), who has sat in the prisons for 36 years of his life."
Click "full article" for a longer excerpt

Spokesman of the Fatah Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs in Gaza Nashat Al-Wahidi: “They demand to stop the prisoners’ allowances (mukhassasat), the prisoners’ salaries (rawatib), the salaries or allowances of the Palestinian Martyrs’ (Shahids’) families, while they pay a monthly salary to Ami Popper who killed 7 Palestinian workers (sic., Popper is being allowed to work through a prisoner rehabilitation program; he is not paid by Israel for having murdered 7 Palestinians –Ed.) - a monthly salary that reaches his home, like it reaches the rest of the Israeli murderers (sic., there are only 200 prisoners on the rehabilitation work program, and they are not paid by Israel –Ed.), including the one that murdered [former Israeli Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 (sic., Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir is not being allowed to work -Ed.). This is the true face of the Israeli occupation.”
Click "full article" for more information

"Regarding the salaries (rawatib) of the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners, [Fatah Movement Central Committee member, Fatah Commissioner of Mobilization and Organization in the West Bank, and PLO Central Council member] Dr. [Jamal] Muhaisen emphasized that this is not a financial matter, but rather a matter that is connected to the Palestinian historical narrative, according to which the prisoners and Martyrs represent our Palestinian people’s struggle. He praised the position of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, who responded to the American administration: ‘Even if I will have to leave my position, I will not compromise on the salary of a Martyr or a prisoner, as I am the president of the entire Palestinian people, including the prisoners, the Martyrs, the injured, the expelled, and the uprooted.’”Click to view bulletin

"Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake warned against the consequences of the unprecedented legal and diplomatic attack that the Israeli occupation government is carrying out against the prisoners' rights…
Karake said that the occupation is attacking the prisoners in a different way than in the past, as it no longer is satisfied with harassing prisoners inside the prison by using means of oppression and harming their rights and dignity, but rather is also attempting to deny the prisoners their political and legal aspect as a cause of national liberation…
Karake mentioned the nature of the Israeli attack against the prisoners through arbitrary laws that the Israeli Parliament legislates, the widespread incitement against the prisoners, and considering them as criminals and terrorists…
Karake said these things during visits to families of prisoners, Martyrs (Shahids), and released prisoners in the Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah districts for the blessed Eid Al-Fitr (i.e., Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan)…
The delegation visited [the families of] prisoners sitting in prison Nidal and Muhammad Abu Akr, Muhammad Zawahreh, Nasser Abu Sorour, Riyad Al-Amour, Shadi Shalaldeh, and Yusuf and Alaa Skafi (see notes below –Ed.)."

Posted text: “From the words of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas"
The image shows a picture of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with the text: “‘Even if I will have to leave my position, I will not compromise on the salary (rawatib) of a Martyr (Shahid) or a prisoner, as I am the president of the entire Palestinian people, including the prisoners, the Martyrs, the injured, the expelled, and the uprooted.’
[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas.” Text at bottom of image: “Information Office of the Fatah Movement Mobilization and Organization Commission”

The image also includes a picture of Yasser Arafat in the background and the Fatah logo at the bottom which includes a grenade, crossed rifles, and the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas.Click to view bulletin

"In order to discuss the most prominent political events and analyze the current Palestinian arena, the Al-Quds monthly held the following interview with Fatah Movement Central Committee member [and Fatah Commissioner of NGOs] Dalal Salameh:
…[Q:] 'What do you think about Israel's attempt to legislate a law that allows the deduction of the salaries (rawatib) of the prisoners and the Martyrs' (Shahids') families from the tax revenues that it collects [for the PA]?'[Fatah Movement Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner of NGOs Dalal Salameh:] 'It is one of the steps of escalation that the occupation is carrying out against the members of our people regarding taxes due to our adherence to our rights and our strong commitment to the fundamental Palestinian principles... a people that has sacrificed prisoners and Martyrs for the homeland will not agree to erase the history of its struggle and will not submit to pressures. Our way has not been strewn with roses along the path of our achievements, and [punishment] is the way of the occupation, as it always distorts our struggle, our history, and our right to our land. However, our struggle is included in the framework of international law and we will not submit to the occupation's policies, whether they will include stopping the salaries of the prisoners and the Martyrs' families, or a different type of escalation.'"
Click "full article" for a longer excerpt

Headline: “Qadura Fares: The salaries of the prisoners and Martyrs will not stop”

“Chairman of the [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club Qadura Fares said that the international pressures to stop the payments of the prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids) are not something new and are the product of ongoing Israeli incitement.
He added: ‘We have always told the truth to the donor countries – that the donors’ money is used for the PA salaries, and we emphasize that the money is also used for political and civilian efforts against the occupation, the settlement, and the resolve against it [the occupation], also including, among other things, our legitimate resistance (‎term here refers to events that include violence against Israeli civilians such as rock-‎throwing, stabbings, and even shootings -Ed.).’
Fares emphasized that the topic of the prisoners and released prisoners’ salaries (rawatib) is an essential and ideological issue that touches the core of our life as a Palestinian people, and it is part of the direct contradiction between the Israeli occupation’s narrative and our narrative. He also noted that there is no [need for] concern regarding the issue of the salaries.
He continued: ‘No one in the PLO leadership can renounce this basic principle under any circumstances, because there is a clear and open consensus about not stopping the salaries, and therefore I am not concerned at all.’”

Text and pictures posted on the Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki

Posted text: "[Fatah Central Committee member and] Fatah Movement Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki participated together with residents of the Al-Fawwar refugee camp [southwest of Hebron] in a reception for released prisoner Saleh Abu Rabi' who was released today [June 23, 2017] after 15 years in the occupation's prisons.
In a speech that he gave on behalf of the Palestinian leadership, Zaki emphasized that the prisoners’ issue is one of the top priorities of the Palestinian leadership, and that the leadership will not submit to the American and Israeli pressures in any attempt to harm the salaries (rawatib) of the families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners."

The pictures show Abbas Zaki on stage at the event, with large sign in the background.

Text on sign: "Reception for heroic prisoner Saleh Al-Din Abu Rabi'
One of the leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the southern [West Bank]"Click to view bulletin
Saleh Al-Din Abu Rabi' – an official of Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. He was released in June 2017 after 15 years’ imprisonment in Israel. PMW has been unable to verify the circumstances of his crime and imprisonment.

"Under the auspices of PLO Executive Committee member and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) Dr. Ahmed Majdalani, businessman Bashar Jaber organized a Ramadan fast breaking feast for the institutions of the orphans and families of the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners at the Grand Park Hotel tent in Ramallah...
Dr. Ahmed Majdalani said in a speech that he gave: 'At this event and on this blessed day, and among those who are more precious than all of us, the children of the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners, we emphasize before them - on the instructions of [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] - that we will always help and assist the members of our people and we will stand by them at all times. The talk taking place here and there about stopping the allowances (mukhassasat) of the prisoners and Martyrs is not true at all.'"Click to view bulletin

Headline: "Shaath: The prisoners and Martyrs' salaries constitute care for innocents who have been caused harm because of Israel"
"Palestinian [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas' advisor [on Foreign Affairs and International Relations] Nabil Shaath said that the salaries (rawatib) of the families of the prisoners and Martyrs (Shahids) constitute social aid that the PA provides to the families. Shaath added in a speech at the Herzliya Conference for security [of the IDC Herzliya Institute for Policy and Strategy] near Tel Aviv on Thursday [June 21, 2017] that the salaries are a social obligation towards innocents that have been harmed as a result of the imprisonment or killing of their loved ones as a result of the military occupation.
He noted that the Israeli occupation authorities have arrested approximately a million Palestinians since [Israel’s] establishment in 1948, and added: 'One of every three Palestinian men has served a prison sentence in an Israeli prison - can an intelligent person claim that these million people are terrorists?' He added: 'Honestly, to describe all of our political prisoners as terrorists is racist rhetoric.'"
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on Foreign Affairs and International Relations Nabil Shaath’s entire speech in English on behalf of Abbas can be seen here.

Headline: “Karake: Taking care of the families of the prisoners, Martyrs, and injured is part of the Palestinian constitution”

“Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake said that taking care of the families of the Martyrs (Shahids), prisoners, wounded, and disabled is anchored in clause 22 of the Palestinian basic laws, which have constituted the constitution of the Palestinian state since the establishment of the PA. This is so because according to the basic laws, the law needs to regulate the social and health insurance services and the disability and old age allowances, and to take care of the families of the Martyrs and prisoners as well as the wounded and disabled. This is an obligation regulated by law, and under its framework the PA is obligated to provide them with education services and medical and social insurance.
Karake explained that taking care of the families who were harmed by the occupation is one of the lawful, legal, and administrative components of the Palestinian political system, and based on this the [PA] Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs was established, which afterwards became the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs.”